Gateway Three Workers Swap Stories Of Evacuation

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — More and more stories are coming out about what it was like inside the Gateway Three building as word spread about the hostage situation.

The call to evacuate came almost as soon Jim Garr came to work at Gateway Three Friday morning. Two employees from the C.W. Breitsman firm came to his office which is also on the 16th floor asking for help.

“The two women in our office had called 9-1-1 and security was up on our floor investigating and within about five minutes of me getting on the floor, security was evacuating us and everybody above us from the building,” he said.

Kevin Warner also works in Gateway Three. He was caught up in the confusion after the evacuation started.

“I’ve heard he had a gun, he’s holding hostages, he had a bomb,” he said.

Many of the employees from Gateway waited outside for hours, sharing stories of chaos confusion and fear. Mike Hike works on the 23rd floor.

“We ended up taking the steps down, went past the 16th floor, cops were already there with their pistols drawn, went a couple floors further and the SWAT team was on their way up and you know the rest,” he said.

Gateway Three employees are glad they got out safely on a morning many will never forget.

“Everybody was very concerned,” Garr said. “Obviously when there’s an intruder there and you don’t know what the situation is and you have to call 9-1-1, yeah, everybody was a little upset.”